<aside> 💡 Depending on the business you are in, the process of role creation could broadly include the following:
1️⃣ Identify (& Scrutinise) the Need 2️⃣ Business Case / Request for Headcount 3️⃣ Confirm Process & Hiring Team 4️⃣ Advertise
These may not all apply to you, but let’s dive in below to key things to think about…
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You won’t always be the one to decide you need additional headcount in your team. There may be times that you’ve already mapped out future hires in a headcount plan, but even if you are involved in conversations about that headcount plan, it’s vital you think about identifying the potential need for additional heads.
🤷♂️ Why? 👉 Companies have been heavily scrutinized since 2022 after months of over-hiring post-covid. The 2021 bubble which saw so many companies unsustainably pile headcount into teams burst with a bang in 2022. Ever since, the phrase ‘hyper-growth’ has been one associated with skepticism rather than excitement.
💭 Think about… ‘responsible hiring’. Salaries typically make up the biggest cost-base on a company’s P+L. Your focus as a manager should be on how you can maximise output & performance with the leanest team possible.
Focus on: ✔️ Revenue-per-employee Not on: ❌ Headcount. It’s a vanity metric
💡 Alternatives… Can you do anything to streamline or automate work for current team members that might free them up to spend more time contributing to targets & outcomes without the need for additional headcount? Is there anything you can change re: ways of work, communication? (e.g. most employees believe they could easily halve the time they spend in meetings each week without causing issues. That’s a lot of hours potentially saved across a team). Rather than defaulting to an extra hire, consider whether there could be other ways to fill that gap
Once you are certain you need this hire, in some cases it’s likely you’ll need to put in some formal request for headcount (not in all cases though).
If you do have something formal in place already, it’s likely you have what you need here.
If you don’t it could be worth looking at whether you can encourage implementation of something formal around headcount requisition. Without it, it can cause havoc with over-hiring, budgets and quite often leads to managers being shutdown by CFO’s after weeks of interviews, only for a request to offer someone to be rejected.
⚠️ General rule… Always make sure there’s budgetary sign off for your hire before you start the process.
If you do want an example template you could use to encourage implementation of some form of requisition process here’s a few you could take & use:
👉 Typeform Requisition Form Template 👉 AIHR Requisition Form 👉 Recruitee Requisition Form Template
FYI, depending on ATS that you use, you might also have a pre-built template in there too.
📝 Job Description… It’s likely you’ll need to create this as part of any formal requisition process if there’s one in place. If there’s not, then you’ll need one anyway! Depending on the maturity of your business & team, it’s highly likely you’ll have a template or previous version you can take and use.
⚠️ But a word of caution…
❌ Don’t be lazy. If you re-use an old description, update it, make sure it’s relevant. ❌ Make sure you really re-assess what’s in there. Has the role changed or evolved?
Whether you have one or not, we’d highly advise taking the time to check out this free template from Open Org. Use it as a guide to consider whether you’ve forgotten any key sections, information and do what you can to craft something that is truly as open & transparent as you can. Trust us, it will help you.
Once signed off ✅, you want to make sure you get aligned internally on two things…
👉 Interview Process 👉 Hiring team
Too many companies make this up as they go. It creates inconsistencies, bias, and inefficiencies in the hiring process. Get crisp on these two things beforehand, and you’ll find things will go much smoother.
💯 Bonus Points… For sharing these two things publicly on your advert when you start hiring too. They are huge trust-building opportunities.
There’s no clear science on what the perfect interview process looks like, however a few things we’d advise…
👉 Aim for 3 or 4 stages 👉 Aim for 2-3 weeks maximum from 1st interview to Offer 👉 Identify who is responsible for reviewing applications, and handling contact with applicants along the way. Set clear SLA’s and expectations for candidate feedback stage-to-stage 👉 Avoid too many case study, technical tasks or take-home tasks where possible. If you do these, offer payment for peoples time.
👫 Hiring Team… As hiring manager you’ll be involved, but it’s vital to think about who else needs to meet candidates. Whilst you can allow for some flex here and there, it’s useful to try and identify a core hiring team if possible. Because…
1️⃣ You should look ahead over the next 3-5 weeks to understand whether any of those potential key members have holidays booked. E.g. if people HAVE to meet your Sales Director but they’re away for a 4 week holiday, that’s not ideal. Plan ahead, identify who could stand in to replace if need be. 2️⃣ You can share details of who applicants will be meeting at each stage as part of a transparent hiring process 3️⃣ You should use this as a chance to make sure that the folks involved are well equipped to support on this process (e.g. interview trained, unconscious bias awareness). 4️⃣ It’s useful to get the team together to run a kick-off call before you start to hire so you can align on role, expectations, needs, profile, process… 5️⃣ Finally, just think ahead re: things like visas. This can elongate the process heavily. Determine whether you think you might need that, or whether you can support one, and that will help you plan ahead properly.
Don’t make it up as you go- there’s huge value in planning ahead with the above.
You may or may not be involved at this point as Hiring Manager, but some key things to think about generally:
👉 Where are applications going? Who’s reviewing them? 👉 Have you set communication / feedback expectations? And are they clear to applicants? 👉 How good is the Ad? Is it clear & transparent? Again, refer to The Open Job Ad [template] 👉 How will you handle the process, and is there a cut off date? e.g. some companies will let an Ad run for 2 weeks before contacting anyone. Some will respond to applicants in real time and start interviews as and when, with no cut off date.
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